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I have T-mobile (switched from Verizon last spring). I had T-mobile before I had Verizon as well...anyway. I have noticed a marked improvement in my neighborhood in Apex (close to 540) since about November of 2014. I get 4G coverage pretty much everywhere in my neighborhood and surrounding area now. They must have added a new antenna somewhere close. The thing I like about T-mobile is I don't have a restricted contract and can quit at any time with no penalty and I get to use wi-fi networks to make calls, if coverage is limited in the area I'm in.
Overall, I'm satisfied with T-mobile, although I do think Verizon's network is probably the best. I think customer service is going to be bad no matter which carrier you choose.
Here's a map from the tmonews.com site from fall 2014, showing existing and forthcoming T-Mobile sites in NC/SC. Based on my driving trip to Charlotte last week (described upthread, on which I was using my 200 MB/month free TMO service on an iPad), they seem to be making great progress activating nodes:
I switched to T-Mobile from AT&T last year in an attempt to save money, and I had a lot of issues. Their coverage here is very lacking compared to Verizon or AT&T. If I was in a building, I would barely get service (and certainly not LTE). I wouldn't trust their online map at all either - my area (NW Cary) supposedly had great LTE coverage, but I always experienced dropped calls and dead zones. Thankfully, I was able to switch to Verizon through my employer a few months ago, and I've had no issues with their coverage.
T-Mobile's LTE radio bands are much higher frequency than those used by AT&T or Verizon. This means that their building penetration will never be as good as Verizon/AT&T as higher frequency radio transmissions do not travel as well.
As a side note, I'd be wary of T-Mobile even if they had decent coverage. Long story short, it took a few months of dealing with their customer service to be credited $450 for a device I traded in through their JUMP program. Then, once I cancelled to switch to Verizon, they tried to say I never returned their signal booster and charged me another $400+ which finally got resolved after sending them the delivery confirmation repeatedly.
Bottom line, I'd either stay with Verizon or switch to AT&T if you really want. T-Mobile is not worth the constant coverage issues or their awful customer service.
As a side note, I'd be wary of T-Mobile even if they had decent coverage. Long story short, it took a few months of dealing with their customer service to be credited $450 for a device I traded in through their JUMP program. Then, once I cancelled to switch to Verizon, they tried to say I never returned their signal booster and charged me another $400+ which finally got resolved after sending them the delivery confirmation repeatedly.
Bottom line, I'd either stay with Verizon or switch to AT&T if you really want. T-Mobile is not worth the constant coverage issues or their awful customer service.
VZW has consistently been rated as having the best network, but also being the most expensive. We have been a customer of theirs for years, but are currently fighting with customer service as they keep "forgetting" to apply a credit for a phone upgrade. They say it will be on the next month's bill, but it still does not show. Bottom line - the wireless carriers are all notorious for poor customer service.
The coverage for TMobile is fine for the most part, but as mentioned their signal does not penetrate buildings well. Outside it is usually fine. Even taking the phone out of your pocket makes a difference.
Typically where att will have 4 bars tmobile will have 2. It still works usually and if you need international service it cannot be beat.
For smartphone users the advantage of T-Mobile is that they allow you to use all of the phone's features with no restrictions. Unlike the legacy carriers, they don't lock you out of using the phone as a hotspot, don't have extra data/usage charges, and certain phones have wifi calling which works very well.
If those features are appealing then switching may make sense.
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T-MO before-and-after
